Mundelein plans to move forward with Seavey Drainage Ditch work

June 11, 2013|By Dan Waters, Chicago Tribune reporter

Overgrowth blocks the flow of the Seavey Drainage Ditch in Mundelein. (Village of Mundelein, Handout)

Mundelein officials on Monday questioned the projected $4 million price tag to complete improvements to the Seavey Drainage Ditch that stalled in 2002, but agreed it was something that needed to be done soon.

Mundelein finished about $1.26 million worth of work 11 years ago to complete phase one of the project, which cleaned up approximately 3,300 feet of the ditch between Seymour Avenue and Shaddle Avenue.

The work included removing trees and brush impeding the flow of water, as well as stabilizing the land around the ditch to stop erosion.

Phase two was intended to start shortly thereafter, but a handful of factors prompted the village to postpone completing the remaining approximately 4,600 feet of the ditch in Mundelein, officials said.

"Phase one made a big impact, so the need [to complete phase two] was kind of postponed," Assistant Village Administrator Mike Flynn said. "Now it's been a number of years, and it has to be done in order to reduce the threat of flooding for people upstream."

The village also got push-back from residents who lived along the western portion of the ditch, which officials said is more densely populated than the eastern part. Some didn't want the village to clear away trees and plants in the area, Flynn said.

But the project has gotten to a critical point and officials want to complete the eastern leg of the channel, from Shaddle Avenue to Butterfield Road, according to Adam Boeche, director of public works and engineering.

Where the ditch was dug out to create room for water storage near Shaddle Avenue, the difference in elevation has created a sort of dam where sediment builds up, Boeche said. If the remainder of the project is put off for much longer, he added, the money spent originally could be rendered worthless.

"There's a huge difference in elevation there, and you don't really need to be an engineer to recognize that sediment is going to accumulate here before water goes up and over that wall," he said.

Residents would also benefit, Boeche said, as the approximately five-mile long ditch serves as the primary drainage channel for about half of the village.

"What we anticipate happening is by completing this work and opening up the conveyance of this channel here, we start to alleviate some of the flooding that happens in these dense residential areas," he said.

This time around, there's more work to be done, and Boeche said the village has budgeted up to $4 million over two years in its capital improvement plan to complete the project.

The village again will clear vegetation and reshape the bottom and sides of the channel to allow water to flow more efficiently, but it also has plans to add a path that will serve as both a walkway for residents and as a way to get easier access to the ditch for maintenance, Boeche said.

Working around underground pipes and utilities in the area raised the cost of the second phase of the project, he said, as did the planned construction of retention walls that avoid the need to buy land from people who live along the channel.

The board member expressing the most skepticism about the proposed cost was Trustee Ed Sullivan, who said $4 million is more than Mundelein can afford.

Though the village has a surplus of almost $450,000 in its current budget, Sullivan said he was hesitant to use that money despite the importance of the work.

And while Boeche said the village will apply for grants that would offset some of the cost, Trustee Terri Voss said the village might have to introduce a stormwater fee for residents if the project moves forward.

Boeche told the board he would look at possibilities for paying for the project and report back to the board before to the next meeting.

"I think it really comes to rolling up our sleeves and doing everything we can to make this the least costly program we can," Village Administrator John Lobaito said. "It's a question of what's the priority of the board. We have significant dollars we can spend on capital improvements, and how we spend those are at the board's discretion somewhat."

Since phase two was postponed, Boeche said, the village has revisited the project on a regular basis. But because of input from residents, technical challenges and the cost, the work kept getting pushed back, Flynn said.

Voss said now was the time for the board to pull the trigger on finishing what was started more than 10 years ago.

"We've been talking about the importance of this Seavey waterway for years, and different boards have committed to seeing it through and then backed down,'" she said. "It would be nice if this board did what was needed to be done and saw this through."